Ski binding

ABSTRACT

A ski binding for use against the heel of a ski boot having a large leaf spring to produce release action.

United States Patent King 1 Aug. 28, 1973 [5 SK! BINDING 3,671,0526/1972 Wilkes 280/11.35 T 3,604,720 9/1971 Reuge 280/1 1.35 T [76]Invent F F Kmg, 3,408,087 10/1968 Ramillon 280/11.35 T

Bmdmg, Inc., West Concord, Mass. 01781 Nov. Primary Examiner-BenjaminHersh Assistant ExaminerR0bert R. Song [21] Appl. No.: 203,158Attorney-Norman S. Blodgett [52] US. Cl. 280/l1.35 T [51] Int. Cl. A63c9/00 57 ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search 280/1 1.35 T

' I I A ski binding for use against the heel of a ski boot hav-References Clied ing a large leaf spring to produce release action.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,630,539 12/1971 Lusser 280/1 1.35 T 1 Claim, 3Drawing Figures 'SK] BINDING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the designof ski bindings, it has become common practice to provide a toe piecefor engaging the toe of the ski boot and a separate heel piece forengaging the heel of the ski boot, both toe piece and heel piece beingcapable of release action. So for as the heel piece is concerned, themost important release action is that, when more than predeterminedforces are brought to bear in the upward direction, the heel of the skiboot is allowed to lift from the ski, so that the skiers foot comes freeof the ski. He is, therefore, not injured in a fall or whatever maneuvercaused the upward thrusting of the boot. Such heel pieces make use ofthe procedure of placing the heel of the ski boot against the piece andthen operating a spring mechanism to lock the heel of the ski boot downonto the ski by a lip which engages the upper surface of the heel of theboot. It has recently become fashionable to provide a step-in heelpiece" in which it is only necessary for the skier to insert the toe ofthe ski boot in the toe piece and then to step downwardly with his heelwith appreciable force, whereupon the heel piece locks his boot inplace. It is then not necessary forhim to bend down to bring about amanual operation of the heel piece. The difficulty that has beenexperienced with these heel pieces is that they have a tendency to bequite complicated and expensive. They become fouled with snow and iceand they readily workout of adjustment. A release heel piece which doesnot operate at the proper predetermined force is liable to cause injuryto the skier, since he can be thrown forwardly with tremendous forceandyet not be released from the ski. These and other difficultiesexperienced with the prior art devices have been obviated-in a novelmanner by the present invention.

It is, therefore,an outstanding object of the invention 'to provide aski binding for use as a heel piece which is simple in construction,inexpensive to manufacture, and which is capable of a long life ofuseful service with a'minimum of maintenance.

' Another object of this invention is the provision of a ski heel pieceinwhich the biasing element is a simple leaf spring who'setension isreadily adjustable. A further object of the present invention is theprovision of a heel piece which surrounds the rear of a ski boot and hasno outwardly extending protuberances to injure a skier. I h

It is another objectof the instant invention to provide a step-in heelpiece which can be readily taken apart, cleaned, and assembled again bya person with little mechanical ability.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of arelease-type-heel piece whichis capable of adjustment to compensate forthe thickness of ski boot heel, for release force, and for the length ofthe ski boot.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent tothose-skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination ofparts set forth in the specification and covered by the'claims appendedhereto.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general, the invention consists of a skibinding for use as a heel piece having a base adapted to be fastened tothe horizontal upper surface of a ski. It is .provided with a main bodyhaving-a lip adapted to engage the heel of a ski boot, the body beinghingedly connected to the base for limited swing-ing action about ahorizontal axis. The body has a tongue which is vertically spaced fromthe lip for engagement by the heel of the ski boot to bring about theswinging action from a first high position to a second low position. Aleaf spring is connected in its central portion to the center of thebody and has an upper free end engaging the upper part of the body andhas a lower free end that engages a cam-like surface on the base to biasthe body toward one of the positions.

For the purpose of the description which follows, the expressionsvertical, horizontaP, longitudinal", lateral, and the like refer to thecorresponding directions on the ski to which the binding is attachedwhen the ski is resting with its bottom contacting the ground.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The character of the invention,however, may be best understood by reference to one of its structuralforms, as illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a ski binding embodying the principlesof the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a side view of the invention, and

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the invention taken on the lineIIIIlI of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1, whichbest shows the general features of the invention, the ski binding,indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, is shown at tached tothe upper surface 11 of a ski 12. The binding consists of a base 13which is adapted to be fastened to the ski and of a main body 14 whichextends upwardly from the base and is hingedly connected at its lowerportion to the base. A large, broad leaf spring 15 extends between themain body 14 and the base 13 and has its tension adjusted by a screw 16.

Referring to FIG. 2, the ski binding is shown in association with theheel 17 of a ski bo'ot 18. The main body 14 of the binding is. providedwith a forwardlyextending lug or lip 19 which engages the upper surfaceof the heel of the ski boot and also with a tongue 21 which isvertically spaced from the lip 19 and which is engaged bythe-undersurface of the heel 17 of the ski boot. An adjusting screw 22which can be used to adjust the main body longitudinally of the skirelative to ably carried. The position of the upper plate 25 relative tothe lower plate 24 is determined by the screw 22 whose threads 27 engagewith complementary threads formed on the upper surface of the lowerplate 24. The screw 22 is joined by a stem 28 to a head 29 which residesin a recess or slot in the upper plate 25 and which determines its mostrearward position. The rearward end of the upper plate 25 is bentupwardly and forwardly to form a loop having a forwardly-directed edge31 which resides in a rearwardly-directed recess 32 formed in the lowerrear portion of the main body 14.

The recess 32 is formed with angularly-related surfaces terminating atthe vertex in a smoothly curved transition surface, so that theengagement of the forwardlydirected edge 31 of the base 13 with thecurved transition surface of the recess 32 acts as a hinge with ahorizontal axis for limited swinging movement of the main body 14relative to the base 13. The loop described above formed from the upperplate 25 to define the edge 31 also is formed with a cam-like surface 33which is engaged by the lower end of the leaf spring 15. The centralrearwardly-directed portion of the main body 14 is provided with a boss34 through which extends a horizontal bore 35 in which is slidablycarried a cylindrical protuberance 36 which extends rearwardly from thelip 19. An adjustment screw 37 serves to adjust the vertical position ofthe lip 19 relative to the protuberance 36, thus adjusting the height ofthe lip 19 relative to the base 13. The protuberance 36 is provided witha threaded bore 38 which receives the threaded portion of the screw 16not only to clamp the lip 19 tightly against the forward face of themain body 14, but also to adjust the tension in the spring 15. The mainbody 14 is provided with a groove of rectangular crosssection extendinginto the forward face above and below the bore 38. The lip 19 hascorresponding lugs 44 extending from its rearward face and fittingclosely into the groove.

As is evident in the drawing, the spring is a leaf spring and isgenerally bow-shaped. The screw 16 extends through the central portionof the spring 15 and serves to connect it to the central portion of themain body 14. The upper free end of the spring rests against the backsurface of the main body, while the lower free stampedupwardly-extending boss39 which serves as an ice-free contact pointbetween the undersrirfac of theski boot 18 and the ski. An aperture 41is punched out of the upper plate 25 to allow the tongue 21 to move intoa very low position, so that, in-this extremely low position,it does notengage the bottom surface of the heel 17 of the ski boot. lnother words,the clamping pressure on the ski boot is between the boss 39 and the lip19.

The curve of the surface 33 is high at the intermediate portion, so thatthe spring 15 is highly stressed at eitherend of the swinging movementof the main body.

lnother words, when the finger 21 is in its high position, the end ofthe spring lies close to the top surface of the lower plate 24 while,when it is in its low position, it is at the upper part of the curve 33,both positions stressing the spring 15 less than the immediate portion.Once the position of the upper plate 25 has been determined relative tothe lower plate 24 by means of the screw 22, the two are further lockedtogether by the use of set screws 42.

The operation of the invention will now be readily understood in view ofthe above description. With the ski binding 10 mounted in place on theski 12, the ski is placed on horizontal surface and the skier places oneski boot on the ski. He introduces his toe first to the toe piece (notshown) and then brings hisheel in the ski boot downwardly. The conditionof the apparatus as he does this is with the main body 14 swungclockwise (as observed inFlG. 3) to a position in which the finger 21 islifted well above the surface of the base 13. In that condition, thespring 15 extends around the lower end of the curve or cam surface 33and is kept in that condition by the fact that any movement of the mainbody 14 in a clockwise direction will causea greater tension in thespring 15. The lower surface of the heel 17 of the ski boot 18 isbrought forcefully down on the finger 21 and it is driven downwardly.This causes the main body 14 to move in a clockwise direction above thehorizontal axis provided by the hinging action of the edge 31 in therecess 32. As this motion of the main body proceeds, the lower end ofthe spring 15 moves upwardly along the surface 33, passes over a highpoint (where it receives its greatest stress) and then goes down on theother part of the high point where the stress becomes less and less andthe spring drives the main body 14 forwardly. The spring driving themain body 14 forwardly causes the lip 19 to be driven downwardly ontothe upper surface of the heel 17 to lock the ski boot in place. Thelower surface of the heel rests on the boss 39 formed on the base 15,while the finger 21 has been driven downwardly into the aperture 41 inthe lower plate 24.

As the skier proceeds to ski, the release-type ski binding 10 maintainsthe heel 17 and the ski boot 18 firmly on the skiand locks it in placeso that the skier is able to maneuver. If, however, he should be thrownforwardly on the ski, as during a fall, and a force greater than apredetermined value is reached, the binding acts to release the skiboot. The forward force of the skier causes the heel 17 to lift and pushupwardly on the lip 19. This causes the main body 14 to rotate in acounter-clockwise direction. The lower edge of the spring 15 slidesdownwardly along the curve 33 and, if the force is great enough, it willbe pushed over the high point of the curve and start to fall down intothe back or lower side. This causes the main body to move of its ownaccord under the impetus of the spring and lift the lip free of theboot, so that the ski boot is free of the ski, which is the desiredrelease condition.

It can be seen that the aboveinvention provides a very simplerelease-type'heel piece that has only a small number of very ruggedparts. There are no fine mechanisms to become fouled up with ice, snow,or dirt. It is easy to keep the equipment lubricated and the slidingparts are readily accessible for the introduction of a high-viscositygrease. lf it is necessary to clean the working parts, they come apartvery easily by simply screwing the screw 16 outwardly the entiredistance; all of the parts are then separated and can be readilycleaned. Putting them back together does not involve an intricateoperation and can be performed by almost anyone. The screw 37 can beused to adjust the pressure of the lip and its height above the skisurface to compensate for different thicknesses of ski boot heel 17 andalso to compensate for wear in the ski boot. The screw 22, of course,determines the longitudinal relationship of the rear heel release to thefront end release and, of course, the tension in the spring 15 can beeasily adjusted by use of the screw 16. Since the spring 15 isbow-shaped, the further the screw 16 is moved inwardly, the greater thepressure of the free ends of the spring on the body 14 and on the base13, so that a greater force is required to release. The adjustment ofthe releasing force can take place very readily. It should be observedalso that the binding extends upwardly close to the rear of the ski bootand presents no sharp edges or points on which the skier can be injured.It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form andconstruction of the invention without departing from the material spiritthereof. It is not, however, desired to confine the invention to theexact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include allsuch as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new anddesired to secure by Letters Patent is: a

l. A ski binding comprising:

a. a base including a lower plate fixed to the upper surface of the skiand an upper plate slidably mounted on the lower plate for movementlongitudinally of the ski only, the rear end of the upper plate beingbent upwardly and forwardly thereby forming a conclave, cam-like surfaceand a convex surface,

b. an upwardly elongated main body having a forwardly directed lipadapted to engage a ski boot, the body extending upwardly from the upperplate and being hingedly connected by its lower end to the upper platefor longitudinal swinging action about a horizontal lateral axis, theconnection being formed by the concave surface of the upper plate and arearwardly directed recess in the main body, the recess being defined byangled plane surfaces joined at their vertex by a curved transitionsurface, the body also having a forwardly directed tongue spaced.downwardly from the lip for engagement by the heel of the ski boot tobring about the swinging action of the body from a first, rearwardposition to a second, forward position, the lip having a horizontallyand rearwardly directed protuberance which extends through a horizontal,longitudinal bore in the central portion of the body, the protuberancebeing connected to the lip by a vertical screw that allows verticaladjustment, and

. a bow-shaped leaf spring, concave forwardly and elongated upwardlybehind the body connected at its central portion to the protuberance ofthe lip by an adusting screw, the upper end of the spring contacting thebody and the lower end contacting the convex surface of the upper plate,a threaded bore being provided in the protuberance to engage theadjusting screw; and the adjusting screw being provided with a largehead to which is pivotally attached a loop that may be used to rotatethe screw to be used to rotate the screw to adjust the tension in theleaf spring and, therefore, the release force in the binding.

1. A ski binding comprising: a. a base including a lower plate fixed tothe upper surface of the ski and an upper plate slidably mounted on thelower plate for movement longitudinally of the ski only, the rear end ofthe upper plate being bent upwardly and forwardly thereby forming aconclave, cam-like surface and a convex surface, b. an upwardlyelongated main body having a forwardly directed lip adapted to engage aski boot, the body extending upwardly from the upper plate and beinghingedly connected by its lower end to the upper plate for longitudinalswinging action about a horizontal lateral axis, the connection beingformed by the concave surface of the upper plate and a rearwardlydirected recess in the main body, the recess being defined by angledplane surfaces joined at their vertex by a curved transition surface,the body also having a forwardly directed tongue spaced downwardly fromthe lip for engagement by the heel of the ski boot to bring about theswinging action of the body from a first, rearward position to a second,forward position, the lip having a horizontally and rearwardly directedprotuberance which extends through a horizontal, longitudinal bore inthe central portion of the body, the protuberance being connected to thelip by a vertical screw that allows vertical adjustment, and c. abow-shaped leaf spring, concave forwardly and elongated upwardly behindthe body connected at its central portion to the protuberance of the lipby an adusting screw, the upper end of the spring contacting the bodyand the lower end contacting the convex surface of the upper plate, athreaded bore being provided in the protuberance to engage the adjustingscrew, and the adjusting screw being provided with a large head to whichis pivotally attached a loop that may be used to rotate the screw to beused to rotate the screw to adjust the tension in the leaf spring and,therefore, the release force in the binding.